Christmas in Thailand

Great is the LORD... and greatly to be praised:

My national partners at last year's Christmas party

I now have two wonderful Thai women, K and F, who go with me weekly to build relationships in the red-light districts of Bangkok.  We have been going to do outreach for the last two weeks and have already made several new friends.  Tonight, we took two of those new friends to dinner and got to see a few other friends, and we even had some opportunities to talk about spiritual things with those women.  Praise the Lord for K and F, these obedient servants of Christ who are such wonderful answers to your prayers!

Prayer Necessities:

1.  Please be praying for me, K, and F as we do outreach in the red-light areas each Tuesday.  Also, be praying for me and some American friends as we go and do outreach each Wednesday.  Pray that He would grant us opportunities to share Christ and that we would be faithful to make the most of the opportunities.

2.  Please lift up my English student J.  We have been studying Bible stories in English for several weeks now, and I shared the Gospel in its entirety with her this past week.  At one point, she had tears in her eyes as she listened to the story.  While she is not quite ready to follow Christ, she is very interested in learning more.  Please pray that the Lord would continue to work in her heart and would draw her to salvation.

3.  Pray that I would have wisdom to know how best to spend my time, energy, and finances here.  There are so many needs and so many things in which I could be investing, but I want Him to use me in the most efficient ways possible.  Please pray that I would know what those are.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

At this time of year, people often ask me if I'm going home for Christmas.  I actually get that question pretty often from Thais and foreigners alike, and I find it both amusing and odd because I really do consider Bangkok to be my home.  But I do know what they mean by it and so, when I answer no, I'm never really surprised to see their look of pity in return.  That's amusing and odd to me, too, because it certainly doesn't feel like anything that should merit anyone's pity.  I haven't been "home" for Christmas more than once in the last six years... and I wouldn't change that for the world.

My guess is that most of you have never lived in another country, and likely very few of you have even traveled to one.  This is not intended as an insult; even if some of you would like to travel, it's often prohibitively expensive to do so.  I'm well aware of the incredible opportunity I've been given to live overseas, and I assure you that I don't take it for granted.  I can't imagine anything better.  Well, most days anyway. :)

But Christmas is a much different experience in a place like Thailand from what it is back home in the US.  In some ways, that's bad but, believe it or not, in some ways, that's actually a good thing.

So, sit back, enjoy, and let me give you a little taste of Christmas... Thai style.  I'll try not to make you jealous but, let me tell you, you might just want to come to MY home for Christmas next year. :)

Weather:  Nothing says Christmas like 85-degree weather, right? :)  In Bangkok, December is cold season but, let me assure you, "cold" is a relative term.  The average temperatures in the month of December range from a low of 68 to a high of 90.  Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?  Well, forget it.  The only way a white Christmas would happen here is if you went out and bought a snow machine to put in your backyard.

But, see, that doesn't bother me one little bit.  I don't like snow.  Seriously.  Even when I was a kid, and all the other kids were all excited about a snow day out of school, I was always annoyed by it because every snow day just meant we'd have to spend an extra day in school at the end of the year when it was warm and beautiful outside.  Snow is wet and cold, and those are two things this Southern girl does not ever like to be.  I'd rather be indoors during those times of year, huddled around a fire trying to be dry and warm.

Admittedly, Bangkok does take warm weather to an extreme, but it's usually pleasant in late December.  And the palm trees in the yard are a definite improvement over snow.  Score one for a Thai Christmas.

Nativity scenes:  Thailand has 68 million people, but only 0.6% of them are evangelical believers.  Very few know anything about Jesus at all so, as you might imagine, nativity scenes are few and far-between.  The ones that I have seen are typically owned by foreigners.  I do miss them, but they're not all that Biblically accurate anyway (the shepherds and wise men probably weren't there at the same time, for example), so it's not a major loss.  But I'll still call this one a score for an American Christmas. :)

Less commercialism:  Oh, this is major for me.  I am always repulsed by the materialism that is in full-on display in the US at Christmas.  There's too much emphasis on gifts, too much Santa, and too much obligation.  Why exactly do we need to buy gifts for so many people who already have every last thing they need and much of what they could ever possibly want?  It's ridiculous, and I know most of you would agree with me.  Yet we continue to do it.  Why?  

Don't get me wrong:  I like to get gifts, and I like to give them.  I honestly like the latter more than the former, but I like to do it spontaneously.  It's such a great feeling to see something that just jumps out at you as the ideal gift for a friend or loved one and an even better feeling to see their eyes light up when they see it.  But I like to do that whenever I see the perfect gift, whether or not that's in December.  Basically, I just don't like the obligation involved at Christmas.  It's too much pressure, and I often wind up getting some meaningless gift just out of duty.  Because, really, how do you buy the ideal gift for someone who already has everything?  Yeah, that's one Christmas tradition I would just as soon do without.

In Thailand, there's so much less of that.  I won't say there's no materialism because, really, wherever there are stores, there will be materialism.  But none of my friends here EXPECT a gift, nor do I feel obligated to give them one.  Did you hear that?  That was me heaving a huge sigh of relief.  That, my friends, is the sound of freedom.  Score another one for Thailand. :)

Not a holiday:  So, believe it or not, Christmas is not a holiday here, and I mean that in the most literal sense.  Neither December 25 nor any day around it is a day off work for Thai people; it's just like any other day.  All the stores, restaurants, and businesses will be open, and they'll think you're the weird one if you expect them to be closed on that day.  I know, in our American minds, there is just something completely wrong about that, but it's true.  Thailand has begun to act like the Christmas season is a special time because they've been exposed to quite a bit of Western influence, but it's nowhere near as big a deal as the New Year that will be celebrated the following week.

I don't really mind that it's just life as usual around here on December 25.  In some ways, it makes things easier.  If I need to get a taxi to a friend's house on that day, it's just as easy to get one as any other time.  If I forgot something I need to make mashed potatoes, I can just drop into the store and get it.  And the fact that the day is special to me and not to anyone here can sometimes lead into some great spiritual conversations.  Thai people have gotten the little knowledge they have about Christmas from Western movies, which means they think it revolves around Santa Claus and gifts.  I get to use that to springboard into what really makes not just Christmas Day, but EVERY day, special for me.  I get to tell them about the Savior.  I think that might be another score for Thailand. :)

Decorations:  Christmas lights, Christmas lights everywhere!  OK, so not as many as in America, but I do love seeing Christmas lights draped over random bushes and throughout shopping centers in Bangkok.  Additionally, I love cities, and I think big trees sandwiched in among enormous buildings are among the coolest things ever.  And, let me tell you, there are some really fantastic Christmas trees here, like this one outside the Terminal 21 shopping mall:  

Christmas in Bangkok

It's also really fun to see how Thai people decorate their trees.  Thais love to have fun, and they really go all-out in adding whatever they can to a tree.  Just this evening, I went to visit a friend who was decorating the Christmas tree at her shop.  The tree had all kinds of "normal" decorations, like ornaments, lights, and a star, but it also had things I'd never seen before, like little light-up snowmen, cotton "snow," and a giant Santa head hanging from one of the branches.  It had more stuff on it than any tree I'd ever seen, but it had great character.  Just see for yourself:

Christmas tree decorated by a Thai friend

I think we'll have to call this category a toss-up. :)

Food:  I love turkey.  There is very little in life that can beat the goodness that is a freshly carved Butterball.  Thankfully, we can get turkey in Thailand.  It's expensive (predominantly because it's in the stores only to feed the Western expats' demand for their favorite holiday meat), and it's only available in the months of November and part of December, but it is available.  And just knowing that makes me happy.

Of course, because I'm half a world away, I don't spend Christmas with my family.  But I do spend it with other Westerners, most of them other missionaries with my organization.  And, to be Biblically accurate, they're just as much my family as the biological one I have, so it's wonderful to be with them.  We basically have a giant potluck, and it is amazing.  I gorged myself at Thanksgiving just like I do at home, and I plan to repeat the performance at Christmas.  There's nothing that reminds me of my grandmother's house like seeing the spread of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pecan pie... among other things.

But, even though the food tastes just as good, I have to give this category to the US because, no matter how much it may look like my grandmother's house, it just isn't the same.  Score one for the homeland. :)

Christmas movies:  I have two movies that it's a necessity for me to watch every Christmas:  "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story."  I have both of them on DVD, so it's no problem to watch them here.  I do, however, miss a few others from back home.  Things like "Miracle on 34th Street" and "Christmas Vacation" are classics and, while I don't have to watch them every Christmas, I'd like to have the option of flipping through some channels on a TV and being able to watch them if I want.

It's also not quite the same to say, "Squirrel!" or "I triple-dog dare ya!" here in Bangkok.  I guess it somehow loses its appeal when, instead of raucous laughter and subsequent quotes from the same movie, the response you get is blank stares instead. :)  Guess I'll have to chalk this one up to the US of A.

So, if you're keeping score at home, that's basically even.  Hopefully, you have a little better understanding of what it's like to be an expatriate living in a country that minimally celebrates what is easily the major holiday back in the United States.  It can be fun, even though there will always be moments of homesickness.  But even that is a reminder of the fact that I am an alien and a stranger on this earth... and will always be until I'm home with my Savior.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Walking the Walk... Together

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

I have been able to spend this week at a very encouraging conference for missionaries involved in ministry to women in the sex industry.  We have shared victories and struggles with one another, and I have learned so much from others who have been involved in this work longer than I have.  It has been so encouraging to hear what the Lord is doing in their lives and to know that I am not alone in this work!

Additionally, I had a wonderful 2-1/2-week vacation in the United States, filled with time with friends and family, speaking at churches, and having lots of fun at the beach.  It was so good to see many of you during that time!

Fun with friends from high school

Lunch with my aunt and her friends

Hanging out with my cousin and his family

Prayer Necessities:

1.  The cell group that I had previously mentioned has, sadly, stopped meeting together.  Please pray for me to have wisdom in knowing how to move forward in starting a new group.

2.  I have recently begun teaching English to a lady who is interested in learning more about Christ.  Our discussions on passages from the book of Genesis have been deep, and she is very open to hearing more.  Please pray that the Lord would reveal His Truth to my new friend, Ja.

3.  Please continue to lift up W and J, my two friends who work in a local dance bar.  Also, pray that my relationships with them would lead to other friendships and opportunities to share Christ in that club.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

As I delve farther into my current ministry, one thing I continue to learn is the prevalence of sexual abuse across all cultures and its far-reaching impact on society.  And even more disturbing than how commonly it occurs in society at large is its prevalence IN THE CHURCH.  Just this week, I have heard the stories of two women from two different Western cultures (one of which was American).  Both of these women were abused at 3-4 years of age by men who were their relatives, and both of those men were leaders in their churches.

It is estimated that anywhere from 10 – 30% of children in the United States have been sexually abused.  Considering that sexual abuse is grossly underreported, I think it’s safe to assume there are even more kids who live through that kind of trauma.  It’s a horrifying statistic that should disgust us.

You know what should disgust us even more?  The fact that it is frequently those belonging to the body of Christ who are perpetrating these crimes against children.

Don’t make the mistake of latching onto the Catholic priest scandal and thinking that evangelical churches are somehow exempt from this kind of horrific sin.  Both of the women I mentioned above were abused by men in Protestant churches, and I know of MANY others with similar experiences.  Remember, sin thrives in the dark.  Very few of the victims report it because of the likelihood they won’t be believed.  What kind of weight does a child’s word carry against that of a well-respected church member?

Sexual immorality, in a variety of forms, is rampant in the church today.  You name the sexual sin, and the church has experienced it.  And, in some tragic cases, the church has overlooked it and, worse, even condoned it.  How the Lord must be grieved with this indeed.

Pornography is an absolute epidemic in Western cultures, with an ever-increasing prevalence due to ease of access to it via electronic media.  Nearly 90% of young men aged 18-26, and 30% of young women in the same age range, have reported using pornography.  Considering the fact that pornography is a gateway that leads to a variety of sexually immoral and/or deviant behavior, including sexual assault, this is a truly terrifying statistic.  However, the utterly shameful fact is that the church has maintained its purity in this area only somewhat better than the world.

And, friends, the world is not trying to maintain its purity.

OK, folks, my point is not to make us defensive.  Don’t think, “Oh, but that doesn’t happen in MY church.”  The reality is that it very likely is – and, just maybe, among those you would least suspect.  And don’t think, “Oh, but those people probably aren’t real Christians.”  Some might not be, but many probably are.

The reality is that it is possible for us to walk in victory over sin, even sins that we have struggled with for some time.  We can do that because the almighty power of the risen Christ dwells within us and enables us to overcome sin.  That’s the Gospel in all its beautiful, miraculous, astounding, filthy-sinner-to-righteous-saint glory!  We no longer HAVE to sin.  We really do have a choice not to, something that we didn’t really have before when we were utterly enslaved to it.  Praise be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

But whether or not we ARE walking in victory over sin is an entirely different story because there’s a lot that goes into achieving it.  And most of it involves the fellowship and community that we have with other believers.

The choice to commit adultery or to sexually abuse a child or to engage in any other sin that we think of as something big doesn’t start right there.  No one gets up in the morning and just thinks out of the blue, “Oh, you know what?  I’m going to go out and cheat on my husband today.”  It’s actually a pretty gradual descent into wickedness, a “drifting away” as the book of Hebrews calls it, one that starts – and can most easily be stopped – much earlier.  By the time a believer has achieved the mindset that will lead him (or her) into adultery or sexual abuse, he (or she) has been edging down that road for a while.

Years ago, I heard a Casting Crowns song that describes this process very well:

“It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away,

It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray.

And thoughts invade, choices made,

A price will be paid when you give yourself away.

People never crumble in a day,

It’s a slow fade. 

It’s a slow fade.”

What’s my point?  Just this.  We, as the church, have to respond to sin in our midst in a Biblical fashion.  It is our privilege and our responsibility to walk together with one another through this journey of life, helping one another to avoid and overcome sin, and we desperately need to embrace that role in each other’s lives.  But, right now, most of us are doing a really awful job of it.

So what should we do to improve?  Interestingly enough, we just have to obey what the Bible tells us to do.

      

     1.       Encourage each other.

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Heb. 3:13)

Ask yourself how often you encourage a brother or sister, and be honest in your answer.  I will be honest with you and admit that I am terrible at it.  I am quick to criticize others but very lax about telling them how I see the Lord at work in their lives.  But a hyper-critical environment in the body doesn’t make the atmosphere very conducive for #2 to occur on a regular basis.

      2.       Confess our sins to other believers.

“…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”  (James 5:16)

How frequently do you do this?  This is one of the most glaring weaknesses I see in the church today.  We all put on a face the moment we get around other believers.  We say the sweetest things to one another, even as we know full well that we cursed out another driver not five minutes earlier.

Let me tell you something:  I’m tired of the façade.  It’s so much easier to be real about my struggles than it is to pretend they’re not there.  The real questions are these:  Am I willing to humble myself enough to be real with my brothers and sisters?  And are my brothers and sisters willing to refuse to condemn me and instead to forgive me and love me with open arms?  When both of us are willing to do that, I think you would see a revolutionized church.

Are you willing to be the person who confesses your sins?  Am I?

     3.       Help a repentant believer to walk in purity while avoiding the same temptations.

“…if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this:  Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20)

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spiritshould restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” (Gal. 6:1)

Now we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of the Christian walk.  This is hard stuff.  Have you ever walked alongside a believer through his struggles with addiction, with pornography, with overeating?  Oh, yeah, I just hit us all in the gut with that last one, didn’t I (no pun intended)? J  Helping each other stay on the way of the righteous is hard work, and it will involve setbacks.  It’s constantly two steps forward and one step back because none of us have arrived. 

Are you willing to walk that road with me?  Am I willing to walk it with you?

     4.       Boldly confront a brother who is in sin, and follow through on the steps of church discipline.

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.  But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’  If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matt. 18:15-17)

To return to the subject that started this blog, sexual immorality is not a new problem.  It was a problem in the Corinthian church, too – so much so, in fact, that Paul had to harshly chastise that body of believers for allowing a man who was involved with his father’s wife to remain among them.  They were even proud of their own tolerance toward this guy!  But Paul quickly set them straight:

“You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame.  And you should remove this man from your fellowship.” (1 Cor. 5:2)

Paul went on to warn them that this sin that they had allowed to remain within the body would become like yeast spreading through to infect the entire church.  He then explained that they were to respond to sin among those who claim to believers in this way:

“…you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people.  Don’t even eat with such people.” (1 Cor. 5:11)

If that ultimate step of church discipline seems harsh, that’s probably because it is.  Ostracism from the body of Christ is a last resort that is reserved only for the unrepentant.  But, just like every other step in the list Jesus prescribed in Matthew 18, its goal is to encourage repentance.  God's motives in regards to us are never for evil but only for our good and for our restoration to Him and to His family.

Do you remember the next chapter in that story of the Corinthian church and their battle against sexual immorality?  They obeyed Paul’s instructions and threw the immoral believer out of their church.  And then?  Well, the guy repented and was ultimately restored to fellowship within the body (or, at least, Paul instructed them to restore him, and my assumption is that they obeyed).

My friends, we have to be willing to walk along these hard roads with one another as well.  Christians are still broken people who are tempted often.  We have to help each other to stay on the narrow path that leads to life.  No one can do it alone, and it’s a tremendous blight on the church that we seem to think we can and should.  With the prevalence of sexual depravity among us, do we really think that mindset is working? 

I think maybe it’s long past time for us to do what the Word tells us we should be doing all along.

The Love of Money

Colored fountains at the Chiang Mai zoo

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

I recently purchased tickets to come home on vacation in late August.  It will be the first time I've set foot on American soil in a year and a half.  Thailand is a beautiful place to call home, but I am so grateful for this upcoming opportunity to see dearly loved friends and family in both Virginia and Alabama.  Praise the Lord for this gift!

Prayer Necessities:

1.  Please pray for opportunities to share Truth with two new friends, W and J.  They are 20 and 18 years old, respectively, and both work in a bar in one of the red-light areas.  They are each single moms and have been working in this bar for the last two months.  Recently, we have been able to meet together for dinner and have plans to do that again next week.  Pray that, as I continue to develop my friendship with them, they would be open to hearing about Christ and would desire to follow Him.

New cell group

2.  Pray for the cell group I mentioned in last month's blog (pictured here).  That group has been somewhat inconsistent in meeting.  Please pray that they would catch the vision for assembling together in fellowship and that the group's two young leaders, F and S, would live lives of godly obedience for the others to follow.  Pray that they would mature in the faith and would share His Truth with others.

3.  Pleas pray for me as I work to finish what is, hopefully, the last of my required seminary coursework.  If you've ever pursued graduate courses, you know that the workload is, at times, overwhelming, especially when combined with a busy ministry.  Please pray that I would be disciplined in my studies and would know how to strike the proper balance between ministry and schoolwork.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

I have been trying to learn more about these ladies with whom I work, so that I might know how to serve them better and how to present the Gospel to them more clearly.  To that end, I made an exploratory trip into several red-light areas around Bangkok last Friday night, just to spend some time in observation in those areas.  I wanted to see these women in their work environments and to learn as much as I could from just watching what went on there.

I went to a red-light district called Patpong at around 8:00 pm.  Let me see if I can describe this part of town for you:

The main street in the area is very wide.  In the middle of the street, vendors will come and set up temporary stands to sell their wares each night.  They sell all sorts of things:  Souvenirs, T-shirts, sunglasses, food, luggage, just about anything you can imagine.  Each of these stands is covered with plastic and rigged with lighting, so it's almost like being in a market.  The only difference is the permanent buildings on each side of the street are filled with a variety of go-go bars, massage parlors, and tattoo artists, with the occasional restaurant or convenience store thrown in for good measure.

The whole environment is loud and boisterous, with music blaring out of the bars, street vendors and bar employees hawking their wares out on the sidewalk, and scores of customers haggling with the street vendors. And everything is in English:  The vendors' spiels, the bar names, the music, the menus.

What struck me almost immediately was the darkness.  I was prepared for spiritual darkness; I can feel the forces of evil in these places all the time.  But Patpong was very physically dark as well, and that was what really caught my attention.  I'd only seen it before in the daytime, but it is a whole different world at night.  

The bars are dark.  Literally, physically dark.  If you've ever been in a bar in the States, you probably know this already, and it's not news to you.  I knew it already, too, but it really struck me on this Friday night just how dark they all were.  The dim neon lights inside that provide the only illumination really just cast an eerie glow over the whole thing, and it made me wonder at the thought process involved in designing these bars, these places so intimately connected to the evil underbelly of society.  And this is the verse that came to my mind:

"This is the verdict:  Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed." (Jn. 3:19-20)

After I came to notice the darkness, the other thing that really hit home with me was the volume of business being conducted there.  And I'm not talking about the sex-industry transactions that were occurring.  That area is a well-known red-light area, and those are the women I want to meet in order to introduce them to Jesus.  I expected them to be there.  It was the whole reason I went to Patpong in the first place.

But they weren't the only ones transacting business there.

No, what surprised me were the "legitimate" businesses in the midst of all that decadence.  The souvenir vendors, the convenience stores, the restaurants, the grocery store.  It was when I realized they were there because of that decadence that I felt almost physically ill.  All of those businesses serve the same clientele.  Without the sex workers to draw the customers, the other businesses wouldn't be there either.  

Though Thai society in general claims a disdain for prostitution, tourism is its major industry.  And, unfortunately, sex tourism is its largest draw.  It is repulsive and horrifying, but it seems that everyone gets their piece of the pie here.  Surely, the Scriptures ring true when they tell us this:

"...the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Tim. 6:10).

Trust me, this is no condemnation of Thai people or their culture.  Lest we climb up on some hypocritical high-horse, we must remember that we have our own set of problems with the love of money.  If we're honest, it should be easy to admit that American culture, overall, is highly materialistic; it's something we as believers should fight against constantly.  But this is a sharp reminder of where the road to sin can take us and of what kinds of evil it can lead to if we allow the love of money to seep into different areas of our lives without realizing it.  We cannot serve two masters, and we must be diligent to push back the god of money and possessions in favor of the only Master Who can truly provide all that we need.

Me at the Chiang Mai zoo

Lessons Learned in Darkness

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

Has it really been a full two months since I last updated?  In that span of time, the Lord has answered so many of our prayers!  First of all, I passed my language evaluation and have now begun full-time ministry.  And the Lord gave perfect clarity regarding where that ministry should take place:  Right here in Bangkok, where the need is so great and the workers so few.  He has already given me some new friendships that are being built, and I am praying that those ladies will have hearts open to hearing His Truth.

Several of the ladies from our cell group

Additionally, my friend Michenzie and I recently asked a group of women if they would like to meet together to study God's Word.  That group has tripled in only a month, and few of the women are beginning to take on leadership responsibilities for what we hope will soon become a church.  Michenzie and I are thrilled with this rapid turn of events and are planning to soon transition into training these leaders rather than leading the group ourselves.  Only the Spirit of God, in direct response to your prayers, could have accomplished all of these things.  Thank you so much for your faithful partnership in prayer!

Prayer Necessities:

A couple of sweet kids during a cell group meeting

1.  Please be in prayer for this new cell group as they learn how to be the church to one another.  Ask that the Father would bring men into the group (only a very few of the ladies are married to believers, and those men work seven days a week to provide for their families).  Pray that they would all catch the vision for making disciples of their neighbors.

2.  Lift up my new friends W, M, and J.  They are three young ladies who work in a go-go bar that I visited this week.  W seems particularly fond of me, and I am hopeful that we can build our friendship.  Please pray that I would have wisdom to know how to share the love of Christ with her and that she and her two friends would be good soil in which to plant the good seed of the Gospel.

3.  Next week, I will be attending a meeting of Christian workers from this part of the world.  Please pray that it would be a time of refreshment and encouragement for all of us and that we would "spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Heb. 10:24).

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

Warning:  This blog may not be appropriate for young children.  Parents, please use discretion.

I have debated whether or not to write this post.  I was unsure whether it was appropriate for a mixed audience - or for any audience.  To be honest, I'm still not sure.  But what I want to share has already brought me to a greater understanding of the people to whom I minister, and I'm hoping it will do the same for you.  So here goes:

Last week, I went three times to do outreach in the red-light areas, seeking to meet some of the women who work there and build relationships with them.  The first and third times, I made a nighttime venture to a street that is notorious for its seduction, alcohol, and foreign tourists.  It's decadent, it's disgusting, and it's depressing.

And, yet, it was much less so than my second outreach experience.

The second time I went on outreach was to a different part of town with two Thai national partners on a Wednesday afternoon.  You'd think it'd be easier going in the day and going with Thai nationals and, in some ways, it was.  There's no language barrier that they have to fight through to communicate with these women, and they've been going to this area for years.  They have many established relationships there and are freely able to chat away with the seemingly unlimited number of free-lance sex workers throughout the area.

I won't describe what I saw except to say that it made the other area look pretty and almost tame.  It was heavy, oppressive, so weighted down by Satan and his deceptions that every person we saw seemed draped in hopelessness like a heavy wool coat.  Faces drooped, eyes downcast.  And, yet, there were moments of genuine laughter when my Thai teammates cracked a joke.  You could see hope break through the oppression then, and I know that, despite appearances, God's Spirit is at work in this place, too.  He loves these people profoundly, knowing every unspeakable act they've ever committed - and ever will - and yet still pursuing them relentlessly.

When it was time to go, we walked up the street to flag down a taxi.  We stopped for a few minutes to chat with a few young sex workers sitting by the side of the road and, then, my teammates signaled for a cab.  In the intervening moments between calling for the taxi and the vehicle actually pulling up to the curb, I got some insight into my people group's worldview in a way that I never expected.

A man who looked to be in his 30s walked up to me, obviously drunk or well on his way to it, and he slurred the word, "Hello," to me in English.  Weighing my options, I decided to respond - not being rude but certainly not being friendly.  I answered curtly with the traditional Thai greeting.  He asked, again in English, where I was from, and I responded in Thai that I was from America.  At that point, he asked me another question - this time in Thai - but I didn't understand what he was asking.  I looked to my friends for help and was surprised to hear them saying very clearly, "No, she doesn't want that."  When I turned back around to see what they were rejecting on my behalf, I saw the man holding out a wad of money, and I realized what he was asking of me.

That wasn't the first time I'd ever been propositioned, but it was definitely the first time money was involved.  And somehow, I experienced an entire range of humans emotions in the span of sixty seconds or less.

The first thing I felt was shock.  It was such a surreal moment.  Did that really just happen?  I thought.  Despite my current ministry, I wasn't prepared for that experience.  Let me be perfectly clear here:  I was, in no way, dressed provocatively.  I was wearing baggy blue jeans and a long T-shirt.  The only skin showing was that on my forearms and on my face.

The shock quickly morphed into several different emotions.  One of the most prominent was anger.  How dare this man think I would give him something as precious as myself in exchange for even the most invaluable commodity, let alone for something as worthless as money?  Why would he insult me in such a way?  I wanted to respond physically - to hit the guy, to slap that dirty money out of his dirty hands, to scream at him that I wasn't a thing to be bought but a human being of infinite worth.  I didn't respond in that way, but I definitely wanted to.

I also felt disgust.  The thought of sharing something so intimate with a perfect stranger, one with whom I'd exchanged little more than two sentences of conversation, was utterly repulsive.  I couldn't, for the life of me, understand why he would want such a thing - nor why he would think I would.

That thought made me feel sadness, both for him and for the women who do this for a living.  To see them settle for something so much less than what God has to offer them almost brought tears to my eyes.

And then, once inside the safety of the taxi, I felt stupid and ashamed.  One of my Thai teammates very gently educated me on the dangers of "being friendly" to the men in this area (though my actions toward this man were nothing that I ever would have classified as "friendly" before that day).  I berated myself internally for being too trusting, for being a gullible idiot who responded to this guy's questions in the first place.  You should have known better, I told myself.  I realized later that I could not have known this beforehand and that only life in a desperately sinful world would dictate that one can't even respond to a simple greeting, but I felt stupid nonetheless.

And, yet, underneath all of those other emotions clamoring for my mental attention in the moment, I recognized the one that I hated the most.

Pride.

I was flattered that this man wanted me.  Though we were standing near a group of young and very beautiful women, he had chosen me - and I liked that.  It didn't matter that the transaction was merely a financial one or that the man was drunk.  It still made me feel special and desirable and, even coming from the most repulsive and insincere of sources, that is a powerful feeling.

I'm ashamed to admit that even now.  I hate to own up to the fact that I'm susceptible to such weakness, to what I consider with some disdain to be "girly" emotions, but it's the truth.

It was only as I was thinking and praying through it all later that I realized that most of the ladies I work with feel that emotion also - and all of those others, too.

I never would have chosen this particular means of learning empathy for the women that I came to serve.  I would much prefer to have just talked with them and heard their stories, perhaps over dinner or even tea in some cozy little shop.  I would have listened intently and taken a very genuine interest, but I doubt the lesson would ever have been as profound - or as well-learned.

I would have chosen to learn about their lives in a very sterile and academic fashion, one that didn't really require much emotional investment on my part.  See, I don't particularly like emotions.  I pride myself on being a logical thinker, and I strive to be very rational in my approach to life.  Things are much neater that way - or so I think.  Emotions are messy and uncontrollable, spilling over like tears onto my very neatly arranged attempts to order my life and leaving little droplets of chaos in their wake.

But these women - these beautiful ladies that I love with the love of Christ and whom I want to serve - are highly emotional beings, often to extremes.  They struggle with anger, with depression, with anxiety, with shame, with that sense of pride in their ability to get a man's attention.  In short, they experience every emotion I felt that afternoon - and frequently run through that gamut of emotions in the same minuscule period of time.

Our Creator, who made us in His image, is an emotional being, One Who feels anger, happiness, sadness, grief, and everything in between and, being the good Creator that He is, He gave us those emotions as well.  Like the other parts of us, including our rational minds, those emotions are fallen and can lead us into trouble, but they are not bad in and of themselves.

That same Creator is also a very good Teacher, One Who is willing to go to great lengths to conform us to the image of His Son.  Apparently, He even makes use of such unconventional methods as the sin of a drunken stranger on a busy street in order to increase my compassion toward His lost sheep and to equip me to better reach them.

Lesson learned, Lord.  And I hope I never forget it.

With one of the senior ladies from my church

Country 23

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

My friend Michenzie and I recently traveled to another Southeast Asian country (I'll just call it "country 23") for a few days to learn from others doing similar ministry there.  It was a wonderful time of refreshment and encouragement in the LORD, and I learned so much.  I can't wait to apply the things I learned here in Thailand!

Enjoying the beach in country 23

Prayer Necessities:

1.  I was asked to repeat my language evaluation using a different topic in order to better determine my ability to use the language.  This repeat evaluation will be done this coming Tuesday, so please be in prayer that my language level would be determined accurately and, if it's His will and timing, that I will reach the level I need to begin ministry.

2.  Pray for my Bible storying class at The Well.  The students will take their final exam next week and will begin the next set of stories the week after that.  Ask that they will begin to really know how to apply the truths of Scripture to their lives, especially as we begin stories from the life of Christ in the next few weeks.

3.  Ask the Lord to grant wisdom to Michenzie and me so that we will know how to implement the things we learned from our recent trip.  Ask that He would use us to make disciples who will make disciples of others.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

It was a Saturday morning when we arrived in the 23rd country I've visited, and Michenzie and I hit the ground running.  We met for dinner with the ministry's leader, Barney*, his wife, and a couple of others from his team.  They are all nationals from country 23, and there are no foreigners working with their team.  It is completely led by national believers, which is so exciting to me.  The Lord alone has led them to do this, and they are simply following Him in obedience.

At dinner that night, Barney told us his testimony.  He is a former drug addict who met Jesus while serving a jail sentence, and His life was forever changed.  He left jail a different man who was utterly consumed by following Christ in obedience.  He married and, on the Lord's command, they moved to a different part of the country and began reaching out to other drug addicts with the Gospel.  When they came to Christ, Barney and his wife invited them to live in their home.  For several years, they and their young children lived together with others who had been now become Christ-followers.  When they fought, these new disciples saw it.  When they reconciled, they saw that, too.  I think they probably all became better disciples because of it.  (Barney and his wife have only recently moved into a separate place because the Lord indicated that it is now time to do so with their oldest daughter approaching her teen years.)

While we were in country 23, we met a variety of team members.  Irene* is a single mom who was kicked out of the village where she'd lived her whole life - just because she had AIDS.  When Barney's wife Maria* met her, she was alone in a hospital in the city and essentially on her deathbed.  Maria and others prayed for her, and Irene miraculously improved and now has no signs of the disease.  She chose to follow Christ and is now making disciples of others.  The woman that she is currently mentoring is Irene's third disciple; the previous two are both out making disciples themselves.

Another lady we met is Jamie*.  She has an infectious smile and, despite not speaking English very well, she had no problems communicating with us in other ways.  Jamie is a bundle of energy, spending her time going from an event educating others on human trafficking to a time of corporate worship with her team to an intimate discipleship meeting with former sex workers.  Her day sometimes starts at 10:00 am and ends at 3:00 the next morning, but she doesn't complain and just keeps working tirelessly for her Lord.

It is clear that God is in the work this team is doing in country 23.  They began by making disciples among drug addicts.  In the process of doing so, they began to minister to AIDS patients (because drug addicts frequently have AIDS themselves or have friends who do).  As they did that, they met sex workers and/or single moms who needed to hear about Jesus' love for them, so they made disciples of them as well.  As they taught all of these new disciples to make other disciples, they discovered that their ministry was expanding down into multiple generations.  Each of these new disciples had a whole network of friends that they were telling about Jesus, and often Barney and his team didn't even personally know the newest disciples that were being made.  But they heard about drug addicts and prostitutes and even pimps whose lives were being changed, and it could be traced back to their team's work.  God is moving there in a big way!

One recent story really touched me and made things very simple in my mind.  A few weeks ago, Barney's team received a phone call asking if they would come and make arrangements for a dead body, someone with no family.  Jamie agreed to go and, when she arrived, she discovered that the dead person was transgendered.  There are certain taboos in this country regarding such subjects, which is why those in the community could find no one else willing to make the proper arrangements.  Jamie treated the body with compassion, as she would have a member of her own family and, when she drove to the hospital, many of the community members followed her.  All of them were gay or transgendered, and they all wanted to know why Jamie was so different.

She told them the simple reason:  That she loved them because she loved Jesus, and Jesus loved them.  She cared for their friend's body because their friend was a human being who merited her compassion and respect.  When they heard that, they asked her to come to their community and tell them more about this Jesus.

Jamie went and, when she finished, they asked her to come back weekly and tell them more.  She's now been going there every week for the last few weeks - typically in the wee hours of the morning because that is when they are available.  She shares stories of Who Jesus is and looks for those with real spiritual interest.  Those people will become her focus as she seeks to teach them how to follow this Jesus Who loves them.  When they become His followers, they will do the same thing with those they know because she's teaching them to do it.

That is how you make disciples.  You go where the people are, at the time when they are available and willing, and you teach them - both with your words AND with your actions - Who Jesus is.  And, when the Holy Spirit does His thing and changes their lives, you teach them to teach their friends how to follow Him, too.

The words of the Great Commission are on my mind on a regular basis, but the latter parts have really struck me lately:

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" (Matt. 28:18-20, NIV) (italics mine)

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to evangelize ("go... and make disciples") but not enough about how to teach them to obey.  What I'm realizing is that teaching them to obey starts with me doing it myself and modeling it for them.

After a week in country 23, I'm ready to teach others to obey... and see just how many generations of disciples the Spirit will make here in Thailand!

* names have been changed

Lots of motorcycles awaiting the passing of a funeral procession

Unbearably Ashamed

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

A friend and I were recently able to share the Gospel with a young lady named T.  T is very open to God's truth and is soaking it all in.  Pray that the seeds that have been sown in her heart will bear much fruit and will lead to her salvation and to the salvation of many others.

Prayer Necessities:

1.  My friend Michenzie and I will be traveling next month to meet with a team that is involved in ministry to women in the sex industry.  Pray that we would learn all that the Lord has for us during this time and that it would be a time of mutual edification both for the team and for us.

2.  Please continue to pray for clarity both for me and for my supervisor regarding the location of my future ministry.  Ask that we would be on the same page in what we hear from the Lord.

3.  Remain in prayer for my students at The Well.  I had 15 students this past week, and it was exciting to hear them discuss the story of God's test of Abraham in requiring him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  Pray that the Spirit would continue to be at work in each of them and that they would surrender themselves to His direction in all things.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

It is typical in Thai culture - and even more so in rural areas - for the eldest daughter to shoulder an enormous amount of responsibility, and usually far beyond the typical task of helping care for younger siblings, something that's commonly seen in larger families around the world.  No, the responsibilities of the oldest daughter here go far beyond that, extending to the expectation that she become the primary breadwinner for her family - parents, older brothers, younger siblings, and sometimes extended family members - and the expectation begins as soon as she is old enough to work, typically in the early teens.

That's a tremendous burden in and of itself, but compound it with the fact that education (which is expensive) is often reserved for the family's male children, and you can easily see why so many of these precious women turn to prostitution as their only viable employment option.  How else would they ever earn enough to support their families otherwise?

Many of these young women enter the industry by going to work in a bar in a bigger city like Bangkok.  The term "bar girl" refers to a woman who serves drinks at a bar and is also available for sale for the night.  The customer simply has to pay a fee to the "mama-san," typically an older woman who manages the employees and who is frequently a former bar girl herself.  After paying a fee of about $20, the customer "owns" the bar girl for the night.

The price of human dignity comes pretty cheap here.

A few months ago, I met a very sweet young lady named P.  She's a bar girl, and she is probably in her late 20s or early 30s but looks older.  She has two beautiful little girls, ages 4 and 6, who live with their grandfather, P's dad, back in her village.  She misses her kids and her dad desperately, but she just can't see any other way to fulfill her responsibilities to all of them.

She recently posted this picture on her Facebook picture.  It's a heartbreaking look into her worldview:

"I've never been ashamed that I have very poor parents, but I am unbearably ashamed that I still can't take care of them well enough."

Please pray that P and so many others like her would learn that there is an all-sufficient Father Who is able to provide for their needs and Who doesn't need them to provide for His.  Pray that they would trust in Him to meet all their needs, both spiritual and physical.